Slashdot Mirror
Amputee Is German Long Jump Champion
hweimer (709734) writes "German long jumper Markus Rehm has written sports history yesterday, becoming the first disabled athlete to win a national able-bodied championship. His jump to 8.24 meters put him on the 9th place of the current season rankings and make him egligible to compete in the upcoming European championships, further sparking the debate whether his prosthetic leg provides him with an unfair advantage."
I don't know if there's an unfair advantage, but if not for sports, then at the very least it's good news for normal life.
From TFA
Rehm runs and jumps with a specially designed blade that is 15 inches longer than his other leg
I can't imagine why anyone would accuses him of 'cheating' ...
The device is like a spring, so it stores energy as well as having extra length and mechanical advantage, and better still its far stronger and requires much more force to break.
I'm sorry he lost his leg, but there is no why this is 'fair' by any sense of the word.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
In addition to the springy unbreakableness, his prosthetic leg is also quite a bit lighter than a normal one.
he should be competing in the cyborg olympics.
Specifically, not having lost a leg, can I put a spring on my leg and claim a championship?
He wouldn't be dead. Don't blame the police for doing their job. Everyone knows cigarettes kill. Untaxed cigarettes kill faster. The Third Reiche, - you can't kill an idea.
I don't care. Sports is (are?) stupid. They are, by default, exclusionary. The entire point of sports is to be sexist, elitist and show others that you're better than they are. Now, low and behold, a group that has bee excluded for thousands of years from the hobby has found a way to use their disability as an advantage. Call me a jerk for not feeling sympathy for the rich, steroid ladened, kids whose parents gave them every advantage in the world suddenly feel disadvantaged.
Shoes are "non-human appendages". Clothes are "non-human appendages". Should people have to compete in bare feet and naked?
Just like car racing, we need different divisions for athletics. One for stock, unmodified humans like us. No drugs, etc. And the "top fuel" division for prosthetics, hormones, steroids, etc. My interest in several sports (bicycling, weightlifting) has already died because of rampant drug abuse. Heck, if you don't do drugs then you won't even qualify for televised events. It's sort of like F1 racing, it's not really a competition between humans, it's a competition between scientists.
Ever since the Olympics went professional, it's been boring. Of course, once these two divisions have been established, the athletes will still cheat in the stock division. Because there's money involved. Even the Korean Starcraft players cheat for the same reason.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
It appears he launches from the springy metal fake foot, which is definitely helping his distance. This is pretty much a no brainer to anybody who can see.
those claiming so are free to remove any extraneous limbs of their own
Looking for people to chat about multicopters, coding, music. skype: gtsiros
One thing that keeps runners from "opting into" this prosthetic is that mainstream surgeons are forbidden to perform elective amputations. Nearly two millennia ago, Jesus of Nazareth gave his two cents about how to treat people with body integrity identity disorder: "And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into Gehenna."--Mark 9:45, NIV.
Eventually prosthetics will get so good that they'll let athletes achieve much better results than any unmodified human. When it happens everybody will see that the only way to go is different categories for different equipments. We are bound by compassion and politically correctness until we get to that point, so how to address this problem now? Call me hard hearted but I'd still apply my reasoning and enforce different categories right now even if we are in doubt of who's getting an advantage at the moment.
Which surgeons are willing to do so? I don't think surgeons are even willing to remove dead-weight paralyzed limbs or limbs that the brain refuses to recognize if the limbs otherwise appear physically healthy.
If it's fair for a disabled person to take part in sport events for the able-bodied then it's fair for an able-bodied person to take part in sport events for the disabled. Or is logic not a strong point for the people advocating "fairness"?
... Would it be a prosthesis that would be in default use in day-to-day life ?
The able-bodied, "normal" athlete has to do with what he uses in every day life, so why the exception for a "differently-abled" person ?
Also, the blades where-and-are especially designed for a sport like this (where leg-power is the most important). As such there is only one word for this: Unfair advantage.
So why not even the playfield, and allow everybody, differently-abled or not, to use such blades ?
It would ofcourse mean the death of the sport of human running as we know it, but hey, that would ofcourse be a small price to pay.
I would guess advantages can only be properly quantified if both his legs are prosthetics because when you have one real leg the capabilities of other leg has to be adjusted to match the real one.
Egg lig ibble? Really? Egg lig ibble?
I understand that the title "Slashdot Editor" is intended largely for comedic effect... I hope. Perhaps we could just get the place renamed to Slapstick.com ...oh, that's taken. How about Slapdash.com, that seems to be up for sale.
If you watch the jump carefully you'll notice that he takes off (launches) from the prosthetic leg. I wouldn't be complaining too much if he took off from his real leg.
Look at the kangaroo, a kangaroo has a very long Achilles tendon. This allows them to be very efficient in jumping buy storing up so much energy when it stretches out like a rubber band enabling them to jump very far with very little effort. Humans on the other hand, have very short achilles tendons and therefore do not have this mechanical advantage.
When landing, the impact force and weight of the this guy is absorbed by active elastic stretch of the prosthetic. When he jumps, the weight is accelerated by a recoil force due to elastic recoil of the the prosthetic. This recoil force is much greater than that of what our our achilles tendon plus the active contraction of our calf muscle can do.
This guy has the equivilant of a 15inch long achilles tendon. As if you look at the video when he actually makes the jump, you'll see the prosthetic "foot" is bent 90 degrees from it's normal angle. The human achilles tendon is a) not 15in long and b) doesn't bend 90 degrees.
As a side note, I would assume there is no "fatigue" or decrease in "springiness" of the prosthetic between his first, second and third jumps. He could always show up to an event with a brand new prosthetic.
He's cheating.
I don't care. Sports is (are?) stupid.
Why? Because you don't play them? I'm sure whatever hobbies you prefer are clearly superior... [/sarcasm]
They are, by default, exclusionary.
Pretty much anyone can play sports so they are by definition not exclusionary. You might not be the best at a given sport but absent an insurmountable physical deficit there is nothing prohibiting your from participation. We even have special competitions like the Special Olympics for those who need a little extra help to participate.
Call me a jerk for not feeling sympathy for the rich, steroid ladened, kids whose parents gave them every advantage in the world suddenly feel disadvantaged.
Ok, you're a jerk. "Rich, steroid ladened kids whose parents give them every advantage"? Seriously? You sound like a pathetic bitter little person with an inferiority complex who needs to denigrate others to make yourself feel superior. Sports are nothing more than games. You don't have to like sports nor do you have to participate but it takes a real asshole to think that because others enjoy a game that those who participate are somehow bad people. The entire point of a game is to have people compete under the same rules as everyone else. Sometimes technology creates advantages that break the game balance and we have to consider whether or not to allow that technology. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. Having that discussion does not make you one a jerk but people who criticize the need for the discussion (like you) are jerks.
Ever since the Olympics went professional, it's been boring.
Maybe to you. Personally I disagree. I want to see the best of the best competing on the most level playing field we can devise. Whether they get paid for it or not is irrelevant to me.
IF you are not willing to have you legs replaced by giant springs, then you are not serious about competing at the highest levels of this important endeavor
any body modification could... example: doping is not the only reason lance armstrong was an awesome cyclist. ride one of those racing bikes with the ball-busting seats for a couple hours and then consider how much more pleasant it might be after an orchiectomy.
I would think if you're allowed to attach any mechanical device you want where your legs would be I'd think someone would come up with a catapult that would just hurl him the length of a football field. No one's touching that record.
He appears to be launching himself with the prosthetic. At first I thought, "maybe it's the lack of leg weight", and then I realized he was using it to give him a mechanical advantage.
After watching the video you can even see him use the "spring" leg when he makes the final push of the jump. He's clearly using it to his advantage.
Welcome our Cyborg overlords to the long jump games in soviet russia where the jump longs for you. MUST SLEEP NOW> Good bye.
If he is really that good then he should be able to jump that far when taking off on his real leg instead of his spring loaded leg.
Athletes regularly have laser surgery to improve their vision to 20/10 or better. Baseball hitters in particular claim that it gives them an advantage in terms of being able to see the spin on the ball sooner. Should that be allowed?
Next you'll be telling me fighter pilots will be cutting off their legs to pull more G's without the blood flowing out. See also Douglas Bader,, SNES-era Star Fox...
With no prosthetic limb he certainly had a disadvantage. With a super springy limb he certainly has an advantage. Even if your objective would truly be to design a 100% fair prosthetic limb, how would you be able to do it?
As a disabled person, this whole discussion strikes me as some pretty big sour grapes. I sure never see this level of abject shock and horror about how fair things should be when it comes to me not being able to participate in things. But aside from this post, I usually don't whine about how unfair things are. Life gives some people different advantages. Sorry 99% of the people on this thread, you're getting a tiny look into what every day is like for disabled people.
Everything will be taken away from you.
Murray Halberg was disabled, having a serious injury to his left arm, and won Olympic gold in 1960, plus a couple at the Commonwealth games. OK, it was his arm, not his leg but Markus is not the first disabled person to win gold.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
So, lets say I lose my right arm, get a bionic arm, and start 'weight lifting' - enter the olympics, and demonstrate ultra strength with my bionic arm. Legit?
It's exactly as legitimate as long jumping from a prosthetic spring-board. There's nothing even remotely fair about allowing him to compete with non-spring-boarded athletes. I wish him luck and applaud his strength and will to try, though.
Of course. Pole vault is a well respected event.
Where exactly does apparel end and prosthetics begin?
I would suggest his host significant other be absent next Valentine's Day... Just sayin'
This. The other athletes are not allowed to use kangaroo spring shoes, so why should he be allowed to? If someones leg is somehow naturally springy then that freak of the nature will win, but that's ok, because it grew itself. Heck, why not have a spring that is charged while he runs, and then releases al lthe stored energy when he jumps. Why settle at 8 meters when you could jump 20m?
"... Would it be a prosthesis that would be in default use in day-to-day life ?
The able-bodied, "normal" athlete has to do with what he uses in every day life, so why the exception for a "differently-abled" person ?"
BS argument. One could use electric wheenchair in everyday life. Still wouldn't be allowed to win a marathon with it.
It was always going to happen - now it finally has. We have the Olympics and the Paralympics - because the athletes in the Paralympics cannot compete against non-handicapped athletes. Now, at least in some circumstances, it is possible to replace missing biological parts with superior parts (at least for a specific task).
Some athletes will take any advantage they can get. For years now, it has been impossible to win certain events without doping (Tour de France). Remember the biologically male athletes from behind the iron curtain who had themselves surgically altered so that they could compete as women?
If this result stands, as prosthetics continue to improve - how long until some athlete deliberately has an accident requiring their leg to be amputated?
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
Does the surface contract point of the prosthetic also mean that he can jump from closer to the line than somebody with a normal footprint?
----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
When there's money in it, people will cheat.
I have news for you. People cheat even when there isn't money in it. Money makes the problem worse but it isn't the root of the problem. Some people just want to win, no matter what. Money alone really isn't enough to explain the cheating in high level athletics. It's a factor but not as big as you might assume.
I've competed at the Division 1 college level of athletics for a top tier program in my sport of choice (not cycling). Nobody gets into sport at that level because of money though it might help keep them in it. People compete because they want to win. They want to be the best. That is most of what drives them. Money is just added incentive for those at the very top in select sports. You'll see people get popped for PEDs in sports where there is no money almost as often as in sports where there is money. Few people appreciate just how hard and how much work it is to compete at that level. There are very few people for whom money alone is sufficient motivation to compete at that level. You basically have to torture yourself for years on a daily basis and most people cannot do it.
Drugs can make a difference but only a few percent improvement at best. You could throw a whole pharmacy at me or 99.9999% of people on Earth and we still don't have the physiology to win the Tour de France. You have to be able to get near the top without drugs for the drugs to be able to push you to the top. I've competed and coached my sport for well over 30 years. There is close to no money in the sport but you'll see at least 1 or 2 athletes get popped for PEDs at world level competitions each year. I have good reason to believe most athletes in my sport are clean (PEDs provide a relatively modest performance benefit) but I'm quite certain a few aren't and like I said, money is not really a factor.